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District Update: September 2024

District Update: September 2024

September 2024

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FROM THE DESK OF SUPERINTENDENT NAN MURPHY

Happy September Dedham Families and Friends,


Welcome back! For those of you new to the district, welcome to Dedham Public Schools. For those of you returning, welcome back! I am excited to begin my second year as your Superintendent and look forward to our ongoing collaborative work and community discussions.


Last year I prioritized opportunities for families and caregivers to meet with me to share personal experiences and hopes for the future of Dedham Public Schools. This year, these conversations and connections are again a top priority and I hope you will join me this Fall at one of the three community forums I’ll be hosting. These mark the beginning of efforts throughout the year to develop a shared understanding of district celebrations and challenges and to continue to build relationships with members of our parent community.


Additionally, this year Dedham Public Schools will begin the important work of developing a 5 year strategic plan which will include crafting a portrait of a Dedham Public Schools graduate. You’ll find more information below on how to participate in this process, as we identify priority focus areas and collaboratively craft both a vision and mission statement to reflect the goals and belief systems of the Dedham Public Schools.


Our educators have been busy preparing and welcoming students back this week. I am filled with immense pride and gratitude for their dedication and commitment to excellence. A strong partnership between families and their educators is essential and has the potential to greatly enhance the student experience. Taking a moment to ask a question about something your student learned today or making it a priority to attend a school event helps reinforce the importance of school and education as a part of our student’s lives. Together, we can create an environment where every child thrives academically, socially, and emotionally.


I am deeply grateful for the trust you place in us to educate and care for your children, and I look forward to all the great things we will accomplish this year.


With appreciation and gratitude,

Nan

NEWS FROM AROUND THE DISTRICT

Superintendent Community Sessions

Parents & students are invited to attend these open sessions to connect and chat with Superintendent Murphy.

  • Tuesday, September 17 from 3:15 - 4:00pm on the Avery Playground (rain location: Avery Library)

  • Tuesday, October 15 from 3:15 - 4:00pm on the ECEC Playground (rain location: ECEC Cafeteria)

  • Tuesday, November 5 from 6:00 - 6:45pm via Zoom

DPS 5-Year Strategic Plan Development Begins

This year, Dedham Public Schools will begin the important work of developing a 5 year strategic plan that will review, inform and articulate the mission, vision and priority goals for the future of the district. As part of this important work, we are also going to develop a formalized “Portrait of a DPS Graduate” to define our collective vision for the learning experience of every student in our classrooms.


To move this work forward, a small team of community stakeholders is being gathered for four in-person planning sessions. If you are interested in joining this group, please review the dates below, and complete this interest form.


Meeting dates and times:

  • Friday, October 4, 2024: 8:00am - 11:30am
  • Friday, November 1, 2024 : 8:00am - 11:30am
  • Tuesday, November 19, 2024 : 8:00AM - 12:00pm
  • Friday, January 10, 2025 : 8:00am - 11:30am

Dedham Marauder Fall Athletics

We are excited to see our Fall athletics season get started! Here are some helpful links to keep up with our teams:


Congratulations to our Fall Team Captains:


  • Girls Soccer: Ava Finn, Abby LeGendre, Ruby Roslonek,
  • Boys Soccer: Brian Dunne, Sotiri Tiglianidis, Krist Rapi, Paul Yandrisevits
  • Girls Cross Country: Ava Hartshorn, Renee Saint-Armour, Ella Vigue
  • Field Hockey: Grace Bender, Keira Murphy-Clinton, Fiona McCafferty, Mary Stronach
  • Football: Ben Bogie, Edem Kplorfia, Nick Knight, AJ Pinet
  • Volleyball: Meryl McCormick, Megan McNamara

New DPS Websites

We are excited to have launched new websites over the summer for the District and all of our schools. The new format significantly improves accessibility for our families, searchability for key information, and an opportunity to re-organize and update the information we are sharing with our school communities. More updates and improvements are planned throughout the year! Thank you for your patience as we continue to add content and build out pages. If you have any concerns, ideas or find any issues, please email: webmaster@dedham.k12.ma.us

DPS on Social Media

Last Fall, DPS launched official social media channels to share the amazing things happening in around the District in our classrooms, schools and beyond. Be sure to follow our official Dedham Public Schools social media channels! Facebook/Instagram: @DedhamPublicSchools


Superintendent Murphy is also known to share photos and insights from her adventures around DPS: Facebook: @DPSSuptMurphy

DEDHAM EXCELLENCE SPOTLIGHT

DHS Link Crew Host Orientation for Freshmen

Thanks to the 32 DHS student Link Leaders who hosted a fun, informative and energetic orientation for 121 members of the incoming DHS freshman class Wednesday morning. Themed groups, a school-wide scavenger hunt and more helped ensure that the newest students at DHS had friendly, helpful peers to get them set up for success. Thanks to DHS teachers Julie Sweetman and Helen Holway, the Link Crew coordinators for making this all possible!


Link Crew is a program designed to welcome and support 9th graders by connecting them with Link Leaders, who are positive, responsible, hand-selected 11th and 12th graders. These students represent a cross-section of our student body, designed to ensure that every 9th grader will see and know that our school accepts and appreciates the person they are. Students volunteer and are nominated at the end of the previous school year, commit to training sessions and planning days, then keep the connections created going all year.


TEACHING & LEARNING

DPS Launches New Elementary Literacy Curriculum in Grades K-5

We are excited to announce that this year marks the first year of implementing Dedham's new English Language Arts & Literacy curriculum, Amplify's Core Knowledge Language Arts (CKLA), for Grades K-5. CKLA is a comprehensive literacy curriculum, aligned with the science of reading, that will be used in all classrooms across the district. Our teachers received their initial training in May 2024 and will continue to receive training and support throughout the school year to ensure a successful implementation.


While we anticipate that your student(s) will be eager to share what they've learned (as was the case in our pilot classrooms last year), we also encourage you to visit our new website. There, you can find valuable information about the essential questions, unit objectives, and the skills and knowledge your child is building.

DPS Launches New English Language Arts Curriculum in Grades 6-8

Dedham Middle School English Language Arts teachers are also getting ready to implement Amplify ELA - a new English Language Arts curriculum that fully aligns with our new elementary literacy curriculum. Amplify ELA is a comprehensive English Language Arts curriculum designed for middle school students, typically grades 6-8. It focuses on developing students' reading, writing, listening, and speaking skills through a combination of interactive digital resources, engaging texts, and hands-on activities.


The curriculum emphasizes critical thinking, evidence-based writing, and deep comprehension of complex texts. Known for its rich content that includes both classic and contemporary literature, as well as nonfiction texts that cover a wide range of topics, the curriculum is designed to be interactive, with a blend of technology and traditional classroom activities that aim to engage students and support teachers in delivering effective instruction. It also includes tools for assessment and differentiation to meet the diverse needs of students.

Strategic Planning for Learning Success

Leaders from Dedham Public Schools attended a two-day summit led by the One8 Foundation to plan for encouraging the concept of applied learning to engage students in the OpenSciEd curriculum currently being used at Dedham Middle School.


Throughout the two-days, DMS Principal Karen Hilman, DMS STEM Coach Kate Garand, Secondary Science Department Chair Amy Hill, and Director of Teaching and Learning Ed Paris worked through a systems thinking model to support Dedham’s middle school students engaging with the tenants of Applied Learning - solving real world problems, pairing content and “soft skills,” working through various iterations of a solution while valuing feedback, collaborating and communicating with a team, and having problems framed through a professional perspective so that students understand how concepts can be used in the real world. The next step is taking this work back to DMS teachers through professional development and curriculum-focused discourse.

STUDENT SERVICES

Introducing City Connects to our Elementary Schools

Through a grant from Beth Israel Hospital, DPS has joined forces with Boston College to bring the CityConnects integrated support model to the ECEC and our four elementary schools. CityConnects is a preventative care framework that will help achieve our goal of being proactive, engaged, culturally competent and structured in our approach to student mental and behavioral health. At each level, School Adjustment Counselors, City Connects Coordinators, and College and Career Counselors work as a team to provide comprehensive school counseling programs that incorporate prevention and intervention activities. We look forward to sharing more on this project as it gets started!

Staffing Changes on our Students Services Team

Jacqueline Smith will be leading the special education teams at Riverdale and Greenlodge, and we are pleased to welcome Julie Cullen as the new ETL at Dedham High! Student Services is also pleased to introduce a new behavioral health team this year. We now have three district Board Certified Behavior Analysts to consult on our programs.

FINANCE & OPERATIONS

DPS Facilities Improvements

In the weeks and months ahead keep an eye out for some much needed improvements to our facilities and grounds happening around the District.

  • DHS Exterior Facade. In the weeks ahead the front of DHS will be scraped, sanded, and painted to begin bringing the building back to a state that we can all be proud of. Additionally, one of the many gymnasium roofs in need of repair will be replaced.
  • Riverdale Primary Wing Roof. The Riverdale School roof will be replaced in the weeks ahead. This will prolong the life of the facility and set the stage for needed interior repairs to the ceilings and lighting systems.
  • Additional Projects of Note: This summer the DHS Athletics Training Room space was updated to ensure that it reflects the kind environment we value for our student athletes, and over the course of this school year a comprehensive interior video surveillance system will be installed at DMS.

Back to School Safety Reminders

On Thursday morning over 2700 children and 600 employees returned to our seven buildings for another year full of hard work, learning, and growth. So that we ensure the safety of our students, staff and families, please keep in mind these tips from our Transportation team and the Dedham Police Department.

STUDENT, FAMILY & COMMUNITY RESOURCES

REMINDER: Student Photography

The Dedham Public School District uses images and/or videos (‘media’) of students and student work to showcase educational activities and programs (including before and after school and vacation programs), as well as to inform the community of the Dedham Public Schools experience. Photographs, videos, and/or the name of your child may be included in publications (print or digital), news releases, and on District maintained websites or social media accounts. If you DO NOT want images of your child used or shared by Dedham Public Schools, please complete the Photo Opt-Out form and submit it to your school office. This request must be submitted each year.


School Lunch & Food Services Information

We are excited to let you know that Dedham Public Schools will continue to receive FREE school meals in School Year 2024-2025, and in all future years. This means that breakfast and lunch will continue to be served at no cost to all students. Your student can receive 1 FREE complete breakfast and 1 FREE complete lunch each school day.


Additional meals and a-la-carte items are available at some of our schools for purchase. Parents can set up an online MySchoolBucks account to make funds available for student use. Learn More Here.

Attendance Facts for Families

Did You Know?...

  • Starting in preschool and kindergarten, too many absences can cause children to fall quickly behind in reading and math.

  • Missing 10%, or about 2 days each month over the course of a school year, can make it harder to learn to read.

  • Children who are chronically absent in kindergarten and 1st grade are far less likely to read proficiently at the end of 3rd grade.

  • Students can still fall behind if they miss even just one or two days every few weeks.

  • Poor attendance in elementary school leads to poor attendance in middle school and high school.

  • By 6th grade, absenteeism is one of three signs that a student may drop out of high school.

  • Attendance in 6-8th grade can impact a student's likelihood of being accepted into vocational high school and other programs.

  • Chronic absenteeism can lead to poor grades, and in high school poor student grades can contribute to ineligibility to attend and participate in sports and other extracurricular activities.

Credit to: Attendance Works

DISTRICT CALENDAR HIGHLIGHTS

SEPTEMBER

  • September 9: ECEC Preschool Orientation

  • September 10 -11: ECEC Preschool First Days of School

  • September 13: Elementary Band Sign Up

  • September 17: Superintendent Community Session

  • September 17: School Committee Meeting

  • September 19: Avery School Picture Day

  • September 20: DHS School Picture Day

  • September 26: ECEC Kindergarten Open House

  • September 26: DHS Open House

OCTOBER

  • October 2: Early Release - PD

  • October 3: No School - Rosh Hashanah

  • October 9: DMS School Picture Day

  • October 10: Oakdale School Picture Day

  • October 10: Avery, Riverdale, Oakdale, Greenlodge Open House

  • October 14: No School - Indigenous Peoples Day

  • October 15: Superintendent Community Session

  • October 16-17: ECEC School Picture Day

  • October 17: Riverdale School Picture Day

  • October 17: DMS Open House

  • October 17: ECEC PreK Open House

  • October 21: Greenlodge School Picture Day

  • October 24: DPS Curriculum Night

REMINDERS & QUICK LINKS

Dedham Public Schools
www.dedham.k12.ma.us